Improvement in printing-presses



IINTTn STATES PATENT Fries..

THOMAS II. DODGE, OF NASIIUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

llVPROVEMENT IN PR|NT|NGPRESSES.

To all whom it r11/tty concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS H. DODGE, of Nashua, in the county ofHillsborough and State of New Hampshire, haveinvented certain new anduseful Improvements in Printing-Presses; and I do hereby declare thatthe following isa full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspeciiication, in which- Figure lis a side elevation of a press suitablefor job-work, or work in which only one side is printed, part of theframing being broken away to show the inking apparatus. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section of the same, taken near its center. Fig. 3is a transverse vertical section taken in the line 1 2 in Fig. 1. Fig.4C is a detached view of the inking apparatus. Fig. 5 is a detached viewof the pulley which drives the feed-cylinders.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of theseveral figures above mentioned.

The nature of my invention consists in hanging the platens and type-bedsof print- 1n g-presses on cranks on parallel shafts which are soarranged that the platens and typebeds are always parallel or nearlyparallel to each other durin the revolutions ofthe shafts. rlhose shaftswhich carry the type-beds re- Volve in an opposite direction to thosewhich carry the platens acting in connection with them, and the crankson one set of shafts are so arranged upon them in relation to those ofthe outer set acting with them that each platen moves in the samedirection longitudinally as the type-bed corresponding with it, and bothmove either toward orf rom each other, being brought togethersuliiciently close to take the impression of the type on a sheetplacedbetween them. The sheet upon which the impressions are taken should bein a long roll and fed in continuously at the same speed as the motionof the type-bed and platen, and an impression is given to it by themeeting1 of the type-bed and platen at every revolution of the cranks,the printed sheets being cut off after "leaving the press. To insure thespeed of the sheet being precisely the saine as that of the bed andplaten at the time of making the impression, there is a springpresserattached to the bed, which takes hold of the band which drives therollers for feeding the sheet and either retards or accelerates itsmotion, as may be necessary.

The type is inked before every impression by an inking-roller whosemotion is controlled by the motion of the bed or platen.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe fully its construct-ion and operation.

A B is the framing of the machine, A consisting ot a'fonndation-plate,and B of upright standards mounted upon the same. O O and D D are shortshafts hung in bearings in the standards of the frame, each being formedin two parts, one on each side .Of the frame in line with each other, sothat both have the same axis. The axes of all are parallel, and O and Dare at the same distance apart as O and D', O and O being in the samehorizontal line and D and D being also in the same horizontal line. Uponeach part of the said shaft inside the bearings is a crank E. All thecranks are of equal length, and those having the same axis are arrangedopposite each other, so as to form parts of the same crank. The cranksupon O and O are placed in corresponding positions and the type-bed ishung upon them. Those upon D and D are also placed in correspondingpositions and the platen is hung upon them.

The shafts O and D are geared together by a pair of cog-wheels F F, andthose O and D are geared together by a similar pair of cogwheels, sothat O and O must rotate in opposite directions to D and D', the wheelsgearing so that the cranks on O and O and those on D and D always movetoward or froni each other at the same time, and when one pair is turnedupward in a vertical position the other pair is turned downward, andvice versa.

G is the type-hed, consisting of a strong plate hung on the cranks onthe shafts O and O', being always kept in a horizontal position duringtheir revolution. H is the form of type placed upon the bed in the usualway.

I is the platen, consisting of a strong plate hung upon the cranks onthe shafts D and D', always remaining in a horizontal position.

J is a stationary stud or gndgeon secured in the side'of the framing andhaving the driving-pulley K running loosely upon it. To thedriving-pulley a cog-wheel L is secured,

:a aser which gears into the wheels F F on the shafts D and D', drivingboth in the same direction.

M M are standards secured to one side of the type-bed for the purpose ofsupporting several of the parts of the inking apparatus.

N is the distributing-roller hung in bearings in the lower parts of thestandards M M. The upper part of its periphery stands nearly level withthetop of the type-bed. The side of the type-bed is recessed (see Fig.4) to allow the top part of the roller to come nearly close to the bed.VOn the axis of the roller there is a small grooved pulley n.

O is a small bar of steel or other flexible material attached to theplaten and hanging down from it. A small cord o is attached to it at ornear its upper and lower ends. This cord is also made to encircle thepulleyn, and by the upward and downward motion of the platen andtype-bed a reciprocating rotary motion will be communicated by it to thedistribnting-roller.

P is a small barrel or cylinder hung in bearings in the upper part ofthe standards M M.

It carries a radial arm Q, at the end of which is hung a lever R, havinga long and a short arm. The long arm carries a small frame 01' bar, inwhich the inking-roller S is hung. The short arm is connected bya spiralspring fr to a small bar s, placed across the standards. This spring hasalways a tendency to throw down the inking-roller. A small tangentialbar pis secured to the barrel P, which bar is struck by every upwardmotion of the platen and thrown upward, giving the barrel part of arevolution, by which the arm Q is thrown toward the press, and theinkingroller, which rests upon the distributing-roller when not in use,is moved across the type, the spring r always keeping it down upon thetype. An upright bar T is secured to the type-bed on the opposite side,and to it is appended a spring t, attached to a cord u, which passesover 'and is secured to the barrel P. This spring t has the effect ofpulling on the cord and turning the barrel (when the bar is not beingoperated upon) suflciently to throw back the inking-roller to thedistributingroller, beyond which it is prevented from moving by itsframe coming in contact with the standards M M.

U U are cylinders hung in bearings in standards at each end of theframe. U carries a pulley V on its shaft, which is itted to it so as toturn freely, driving the cylinder by a stud a on its face, which comesin contact with a pin b, (see Fig. 5,) inserted transversely in theshaft. The pulley receives its motion by a band c from a pulley d on theshaft C. U is driven by a band e, ruiming from U. Tapes run over thesecylinders for the purpose of carrying the paper, which may be placed ona roller attached to the machine, or

may be otherwise conducted to the carryingtapes.

The mode of carrying the paper forms no 'peripheries part of theinvention, therefore needs no further description, save that the sheetshould be carried parallel with the faces of the typebed and platen andabout midway between their centers of motion. iii- W is thespring-presser, which consists. of a stud fitting in a socket secured onone sigle of the type-bed. The lower part of this stufd is made smallerthan the upper part to forni a shoulder, and under this shoulder,encircling the stud, a spiral springf is placed in the socket, whichforces up the stud, but at the same time allows it to yield to pressure,causing it to stand up above the face of the typebed at a point exactlyunder the upper part of the band e. Every time the type-bed and platenapproach one another the presser comes in contact with the band andpresses it up against the under side of the platen or of a plate securedto it, and thus holds the band so that it, and consequently the sheet,must move at the same speed as-the type-bed and platen. lf the speed ofthe cylinders U and U', which is adj usted as nearly as possi- 4 ble tothe speed of the type-bed and platen,

should be too slow, the manner in which the pulley V acts on U admits ofits being moved faster; but if itshould go too fast the speed of theband, and consequently of the cylinder U', will be temporarily retarded.

The operation of printing is peformed in the following manner: Rotarymotion is given to the driving-pulley and cog-wheel L in the directionof the arrow shown vnear them in Fig. 2, and by the vcog-wheel L to theseveral wheels F F, which, with their shafts and the cranks upon them,revolve in the directions pointed out by the arrows shown near theirThis gives motion to the typebed and platen, every part of both of whichin its motion describes a circle. These by the positions in which thecranks are arranged always move in the same direction longitudinally orhorizontally. The sheet 0r roll to be printed on, which is representedby a blue line in Fig. 2,moves in the same direction as the type-bed andplaten when they are nearest to each other, which is indicated by a bluearrow, and the type-bed and platen being at such af distance apart as tomeet during every revolution of the cranks will by their meeting givethe impression of the type tothe sheet, which continues traveling onwardafter the type leaves it. The platen just before reaching its highestposition comes in contact with the tangential bar p on the barrel P andpushes it upward, moving it from the position shown in Fig. 3, where theinking-roller is shown resting on the distributing-roller, to theposition shown in Fig. 4, where the inking-roller is supposed to havemoved forward across the form andthe platen is about to descend andrelease the bar p and leave the barrel P free to be acted upon by thespring t and cord u, which throw back the inking-roller to thedistributing-roller. This operating in connection with it. y bed G isadded for the purpose of printing motion takes place previous to everymeeting -of the type-bed and platen and gives the pro-ner quantity ofink to the type.

'it the speed of the peripheries of the cylinders U and U be properlyregulated, the roll in ust travel at the proper speed; but owing to theprobability of the driving-band slipping or other accident it isnecessary to insure its motion being the same as that of the type by thespring-presser IV.

rIhe cutting of of tlie sheets to the proper length after printing maybe performed by an apparatus attached to the press, or the roll may becarried to a detached cutting apparatus.

Fig. 6 in the drawings exhibits the addition of another type-bed G tothe two already described. It is hung on cranks on shafts C C", similarto those already described, and operates in the same relation to G as Gdoes to I, the under side of G forming the platen The typethe oppositeside of the sheet to that printed vby G. The roll in this case issupposed to be fed over the cylinders in the same Way as beforedescribed; but instead of leaving the upper side of U it is carried bytapes under it and passes in the opposite direction over the type-bedG', presenting its opposite side to it. An additional inking apparatusand spring-presser will have to be provided and all the parts will haveto operate in the same manner as in the job-press, this modificationbeing suited for book and newspaper work. The construction and operationof lthe former one being intelligible, it is presumed that this diagramand description Will enable any person of competent skill to understandthe latter.

Having thus fully described the nature, construction, and operation ofmy invention, I will proceed to state what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. Hanging the type-bed and platen upon cranks onrotating shafts C C and D D', arranged and operating in'the mannersubstantially as herein described.

2. The spring-presser W, attached to the type-bed or platen for thepurpose of pressing the band e, communicating motion to the sheet,against the opposite surface of the platen or bed and causing it to bemoved at precisely the same speed as the bed and platen,

substantially as described.

3. The arrangement for carrying and giving motion to the inking-roller,consisting of the barrel P, the bars Q and p, the-lever R, springs r andt, and band u, combined together and with the above type-bed and platen,in the manner substantially as set forth.

THOMAS Il. DODGE. Witnesses:

MELBERN F. ELDREDGE, AARON F. STEVENS.

